2009 United States state legislative elections

For related races, see 2009 United States elections.

2009 United States state legislative elections

←  2008 November 2, 2009 2010  →
2 legislative chambers 2 states
Majority party Minority party Third party   Party Democratic Republican Coalition Chambers before 61 37 1 [a] Chambers after 61 37 1 [a] Overall change
Map of lower house elections:      Democrats retained control      Republicans retained control      No regularly-scheduled elections

The 2009 United States state legislative elections were held on November 3, 2009. Two legislative chambers in two states held regularly scheduled elections. These off-year elections coincided with other state and local elections, including gubernatorial elections in two states. ^[1] Both chambers of the Northern Mariana Islands legislature were up, which remains the last time they were up in this class of elections.

Democrats maintained control of the lower house of the New Jersey legislature, and Republicans did so in the lower chamber in Virginia. This remains the last time Democrats won more state legislative chambers and seats than Republicans.

Summary table

Regularly scheduled elections were held in 2 of the 99 state legislative chambers in the United States. Nationwide, regularly scheduled elections were held for 180 of the 7,383 legislative seats. This table only covers regularly scheduled elections; additional special elections took place concurrently with these regularly scheduled elections.

State	Upper House				Lower House
	Seats up	Total	% up	Term	Seats up	Total	% up	Term
New Jersey	0	40	0	2/4 [b]	80	80	100	4
Virginia	0	40	0	4	100	100	100	2

State summaries

New Jersey

Main article: 2009 New Jersey General Assembly election

All seats of the New Jersey General Assembly were up for election. Assembly members were elected to two-year terms in two-member districts. ^[2] Democrats retained majority control, albeit a slightly reduced one. ^{[3] [4]}

General Assembly

Party		Before	After	Change
	Democratic	48	47	1
	Republican	31	32	1
Total			80	80

Virginia

Main article: 2009 Virginia House of Delegates election

All seats of the Virginia House of Delegates are up for election. Delegates are elected to two-year terms in single-member districts. Republicans expanded their majority. ^[5]

House of Delegates

Party		Before	After	Change
	Republican	53	59	6
	Democratic	45	39	6
	Independents	2	2
Total			100	100

Territorial summaries

Northern Mariana Islands

Main article: 2009 Northern Mariana Islands general election

All seats of the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives and half of the Northern Mariana Islands Senate are up for election. Senators are elected to four-year terms and Representatives are elected to two-year terms.

House of Representatives

Party		Before	After	Change
	Republican	12	9	3
	Democratic	1	0	1
	Independents	3	4	1
	Covenant Party	4	7	3
Total			20	20

Senate

Party		Before	After	Change
	Republican	3	5	2
	Coalition	6	0	6
	Independents	0	4	4
Total			9	9

Special elections

New Jersey

District		Incumbent			This race
Chamber	No.	Representative	Party	First elected	Results	Candidates
Senate	6	James Beach	Democratic	2009 (appointed)	Incumbent appointed January 3, 2009, upon resignation of predecessor. Incumbent elected to finish term November 3, 2009. Democratic hold.	▌Y James Beach (Democratic) 58.1% ▌Joseph Adolf (Republican) 41.9% [6]
Senate	23	Marcia A. Karrow	Republican	2009 (appointed)	Incumbent appointed February 8, 2009. Incumbent retired. Republican hold.	▌Y Michael J. Doherty (Republican) 72.0% ▌ Harvey Baron (Democratic) 28.0% [6]

See also

• 2009 United States gubernatorial elections

Notes

1. The Alaska Senate was controlled by a coalition of Democrats and Republicans. The minority caucus consists of Republicans who were not part of the majority coalition.
2. The upper houses of Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Texas use a 2-4-4 term length system.

References

1. "State legislative elections, 2009". Ballotpedia . Retrieved January 30, 2022.
2. "New Jersey Secretary of State". state.nj.us.
3. "2009 NJ General Assembly Elections". state.nj.us.
4. https://ballotpedia.org/New_Jersey_General_Assembly_elections,_2009
5. https://ballotpedia.org/Virginia_House_of_Delegates_elections,_2009
6. "Candidate Returns for Special Senate Election" (PDF). nj.gov. November 23, 2009. Retrieved October 11, 2025.